Economist Peter Schiff has sharply criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent for downplaying the role of President Donald Trump‘s tax cuts in the recent Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. sovereign credit rating, instead pinning the blame on the Joe Biden administration.
What Happened: Schiff’s comments, posted on X, come amid heated debates over the nation’s fiscal health as the U.S. debt continues to spiral, now standing at a staggering $36.22 trillion.
In his post, Schiff highlighted that Moody’s specifically cited the extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts as a key reason for its decision to downgrade the U.S. credit rating from Aaa to Aa1 on May 16, 2025.
However, Bessent, in television interviews earlier on May 18, dismissed Moody’s action as a “lagging indicator,” arguing that the downgrade reflected the Biden administration’s spending policies rather than the tax cuts.
Bessent further claimed that the tax bill, which advanced …